I'd like to ask for help from aviation enthusiasts who live in Russia, Ukraine, or Slovakia.
For a few years now I've been trying to make an accurate 3D model (in Solidworks) of the Su-15TM. The problem with this airplane is that none of the published drawings quite match the published dimensions--length, wingspan etc.
For example, I just received a new book on the Su-15 from Russia, written by Igor Prikhodchenko (sp?), published this year. It has an official-looking diagram showing the length of the airplane from the rearmost tip of the vertical tail to the tip of the radome, given as 19.66m. Unfortunately if you take this number along with the length "with" the pitot, 22.03m, it doesn't match any drawings, including those in this book! Scaling the drawings so that the pitot tip is 22.03m from the tail tip, puts the 19.66m line well into the body of the radome, nowhere near the end of the radome. This happens in the Aviatsia i Vremya drawing and the Ukrainian Aviation drawing, the two best in my opinion.
I know this is a crazy request, but if anyone is planning a visit anytime soon to one of the museums that has a Su-15TM, I would greatly appreciate you taking a tape measure, and at least getting a good length for the pitot tube. If you happen to have a laser tape measure, maybe take several measurements across the airplane.
Someday I'd like to visit Europe and measure this plane myself (along with many others!) but there's no chance of that happening soon.
Note, I am not a model company, just an insane regular guy.
Thanks to anyone who can help!
Patrick
Colorado Springs, USA